Bill Blass Speaker Series

Upcoming

A row of mannequins wearing clothes.

Tuesday, November 12, 2024, 5 p.m.—Tuesday, November 12, 2024, 6 p.m.

IU alumna designer Carol Coelho (B.S. Merchandising, B.A. Individualized Major Program, ‘05) creates lingerie that is a form of self-expression and confidence, rather than a tool for seduction. A veteran of Bill Blass and Isaac Mizrahi, Coelho launched Carol Coelho Intimates in 2015. The brand is now carried by 35 retailers across the US.

Past speakers

Please see the archive for recent Bill Blass speakers.

We've been honored to host the following guests in previous years: 

  • Sharon Kilfoyle, textile artist
  • Alastair Macleod, chairman of UK-based Hand & Lock Embroidery
  • Fran Morris-Rosman, Director of the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation
  • Lesley Frowick, Halston’s niece and author of the book Halston: Inventing American Fashion
  • Joanne Eicher, Author, dress scholar and Professor emeritus, University of Minnesota
  • Barbara Natoli Witt, jewelry artist
  • Alexander Julian, Fashion and Textile Designer
  • Brian Smith, founder of Ugg boots
  • Carmen Benavente, artist and author of Ninhue: Stitching Chilean Rural Life
  • Erich Biehle, textile designer
  • Jo Paoletti, Dress scholar and author of Pink and Blue: Telling the Boys from the Girls in America and Sex and Unisex: Fashion, Feminism, and the Sexual Revolution
  • Joe Kucharski, Costume Designer and Project Manager, Walt Disney Imagineering
  • John Tiffany, author of Eleanor Lambert: Empress of Fashion
  • Julian Roberts, fashion designer and instructor of Subtraction Cutting
  • Natalie Chain, fashion designer and founder of sustainable fashion company Alabama Chanin
  • University of Wisconsin-Madison professor and paper/textile artist Mary Hark
  • Susan Neill, Exhibitions Planning Director, the Field Museum
  • Lora Morlock, lecturer, Ryerson University